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The increasingly crowded Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre (MOBA for you acronym junkies) has one standout star: the free-to-play League of Legends, whose developer just announced it's surpassed 15 million registered players, with 1.4 million of those playing daily. In an effort to boost its player base of "460,000 unique active players," fellow MOBA title Heroes of Newerth will also be adopting the free-to-play model, says the game's developer S2 Games. "With the transition to free-to-play we're opening HoN up to new audiences as our players can now easily introduce the game to their friends," S2 Games CEO and co-founder Marc DeForest told a press release.

The HoN model will feature three account types: Basic, the most, uh ... basic account, is what new players get immediately upon signing up; Verified status is reserved for players who drop real coin on Goblin Coins, the in-game currency, or surpass "a certain threshold of play time" if that's how you roll; and lastly, Legacy status is reserved for users who've already purchased the game prior to today's free-to-play announcement. "These accounts receive a lifetime of free access to all HoN heroes and are able to play in Verified Only games, to ensure that experts and beginners are separated." Want in on that Legacy action? Sorry, "Legacy accounts can no longer be purchased."

Of course, being free-to-play means there's the requisite microtransaction business model under the hood. While Legacy players get all the characters for free, Basic and Verified players will have access to "a rotating pool of 15 free heroes" with the option to purchase more. S2 is also segregating the player base (similar to what the Team Fortress 2 community is doing itself): "Players with Basic accounts are only eligible to participate in one mode of matchmaking," the press release states, while "Verified and Legacy accounts are eligible to queue up in matchmaking for Verified Only games allowing them to play in higher quality games with more experienced players."

With MOBA titles coming from Valve (Dota 2), Blizzard (Blizzard Dota), and Petroglyph (Rise of Immortals), the genre is about to either greatly expand or bear witness to a lot of failed project launches.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>f2pfree-to-playheroes-of-newerthpcs2-gamesFri, 29 Jul 2011 10:30:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/13/alleged-valve-employee-speaks-out-on-dota-co-developer/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/13/alleged-valve-employee-speaks-out-on-dota-co-developer/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/13/alleged-valve-employee-speaks-out-on-dota-co-developer/#comments
An alleged Valve employee seeking to air grievances with his employer and one specific employee has taken to an anonymous blog titled "The Truth About IceFrog." In it, the person -- supposedly working on "an unrelated project" from "IceFrog" -- describes not just a poor working environment with the Defense of the Ancients co-developer (whose real name is said to be Abdul Ismail), but also details "something fishy" regarding his past.

Though "IceFrog" apparently told colleagues and Valve execs he never worked at S2 Games -- developers of Heroes of Newerth, a DotA clone -- a handful of online evidence suggests he did at one point (DotA co-developer Steve "Pendragon" Mescon even outright states as much). Furthermore, the anonymous blogger likens "IceFrog's" actions to being "the CEO of McDonald's (DOTA) looking for a job at Burger King (Riot Games), then working for Fatburger (S2 Games), then quitting and going to work for Wendy's (Valve) but outright lying to Wendy's (Valve) of involvement with ANY previous employer," adding, "In the corporate world, this would be the equivalent of stealing trade secrets." As announced this morning, "IceFrog" is currently working on Dota 2 for Valve.

When we contacted S2 Games to confirm whether or not a man named Abdul Ismail or "IceFrog" ever worked there, we were repeatedly told, "No comment." Valve representatives didn't mince words, saying only, "It's fake," while League of Legends developer Riot Games offered, "At no time did Abdul Ismail, or anyone known as 'IceFrog,' work at or for Riot Games in any capacity." Now if you don't mind us, we can't fight the sudden urge for a fast food burger. If you've got first-hand knowledge regarding any of the accusations, feel free to drop us a line.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>abdul-icefrog-ismailabdul-ismaildefense-of-the-ancientsdota-2heroes-of-newerthicefrogleague-of-legendsmacpcpendragonriot-gamess2-gamessteve-mesconsteve-pendragon-mesconvalvevalve-softwareWed, 13 Oct 2010 17:40:00 ESThttp://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/03/heroes-of-newerth-free-to-play-this-week/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/03/heroes-of-newerth-free-to-play-this-week/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/03/heroes-of-newerth-free-to-play-this-week/#comments
Maybe you're a fan of the developer behind Heroes of Newerth(S2 Games, creators of the Savage series) or "Defense of the Ancients," the Warcraft 3 mod that inspired it, but haven't tried it for yourself. Maybe you've been waiting for just the right nudge to push you out the plane door and send you plummeting into HoN's waiting arms. Consider this your shove: S2 is running a free-to-play event from now until Monday, August 9 and registration is live right here.

Still clinging to the edge of the plane like an obstinate gremlin? We've got a little more persuasion for you in the form of an exclusive trailer after the break.

Developer S2 Games recently announced two enhancements to its independently published PC FPS slash RTS slash RPG, Savage 2: A Tortured Soul. So, what's new for the game IGN said combined the "team-based action of games like Tribes and Battlefield with an original fantasy setting and a ground-level RTS mechanic"? For starters, the "first of many" free content updates drops a new unit, new maps, clan support, an achievement system (replete with customary clever names), obligatory bug fixes and more.

Also available: a Linux client, which should appeal to gamers on that admittedly not-gaming-heavy platform who appreciated the original Savage's Linux client. If you're hoping for a Mac OS X release, the developers have said, "Depending on Sav 2's success, we may port to Mac OS - however, at this time, we are not." Regardless, if you're interested, you can download either the Windows or Linux client and play for up to five hours for free; after that, you can purchase the full game for $30. Any Savage 2 players care to offer their reports? Sound off in the comments.